Kay Sprinkle Grace, as many articles describe her, is one of the greatest philanthropists and fundraisers of our time. Yes, she does sprinkle grace, along with an extraordinary love for humanity. Kay has given my research a philanthropic point of view on what is changing the world and has seen the issue from a unique perspective. She believes that “changing the world right now is more about stopping what is changing the world.” Behind the materialistic progressions and the technological inventions which undoubtedly have pushed humanity forward and will continue to do so, Kay sees a lot of “self absorption, a lot of greed and a lot of failure to really care about our fellow citizens”, and this is what “change” really means to her, “change the trajectory we’re on, so that we won’t burn our planet down but get back to when we were responsible for it”.
I believe Kay Sprinkle Grace has brought my research to a turning point. She has seen the world from a 360 degrees perspective. She has not only talked about what could be seen as “first world issues”, such as buying the latest iphone, downloading the next disruptive taxi app, or signing up to a social network that will change the way humanity communicates and connects; but she has also talked about humanity’s big problems, such as poverty or environmental issues.
I love technology and the tech startups that arise in Silicon Valley are just great and they have changed my life and the way I do things but I also believe that technology can play an important role in changing the life’s of people that are still fighting for primary needs. To put it in a crude way: my need today is to have a Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Uber, Spotify, Yelp, Zip car account but there are many people who still have obvious different necessities today. And it is not just a matter of geography; poverty is everywhere and global warming won’t take into consideration whether it is a modern or an underdeveloped country; we are all on the same boat if the planet burns up! It’s a matter of needs.
So, I am just starting to figure out that when asking myself what is changing the world, the first step is to sadly divide the world up, because what changes the world for me perhaps will not change the life of someone dying from a disease or from hunger or someone who doesn’t have a house. So, there is a thin line between Twitter changing the world by empowering everyone to have a voice and another entity that for example is finding a cure to Malaria; they are both needed and they both change the world but they deal with different needs. It is just a matter that some people still need solutions to their primary needs and philanthropy exists to go to the heart of this issue: material prosperity versus the attempt to solve the big issues of our planet from its root.